The 2014 Customer Insights Conference

Where leading thinkers and doers come together to advance the knowledge frontiers of evolving customer behavior

Topics will include:

Speakers

• Carolyn Everson - Keynote speaker

  Vice President, Global Marketing Solutions
  Facebook
  

  Carolyn Everson is the Vice President of Global Marketing Solutions at Facebook, where she leads Facebook’s relationships with its top marketers and agencies across the globe. Carolyn oversees a team of regional leaders, and the teams focused on global partnerships, global agencies and Facebook’s Creative Shop. Prior to Facebook, Carolyn was the Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s Global Advertising Sales and Trade Marketing Teams. Carolyn led the company’s advertising business across Bing, MSN, Windows Live, Mobile, Faming, Atlas and the Microsoft Media Network. Carolyn also spent seven years at MTV Networks. Her last role was as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of U.S. Ad Sales for MTV Networks where she oversaw strategic planning, operations, and finance for MTVN’s U.S. Ad Sales department. She also was responsible for MTVN’s Direct Response business and the cross platform, cross brand strategic sales and marketing group called Generator. Carolyn holds a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and communications from Villanova University where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. She also obtained a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard where she was a Baker Scholar. Carolyn has been named a Woman to Watch and Fortune included her on the 40 under 40 list two years in a row. Carolyn is also on the Board of Directors of Hertz Global Holdings, Inc; serves on the Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Board; is a board member of the Effies and an advisor to Luma Partners. She resides in Montclair, New Jersey with her husband Doug and twin daughters Taylor and Kennedy.

• Erick Brethenoux

  Director, Business Analytics & Decision Management Strategy
  IBM
  

  Erick Brethenoux’s leads the strategy and vision for IBM Business Analytics Division. Erick defines the overarching strategy for the BA division; determine and unify the synergies and messages within IBM Software Group for Analytics; leads the Customer Analytics, Decision Management and Analytics Inside initiatives across IBM software, hardware, services and research organizations; and drives the international Strategic Advisory Client Boards for Business Analytics. Erick was a VP of Corporate Development at SPSS, the predictive analytics company that IBM acquired in 2009. Prior to joining SPSS, Erick was VP of Software Equity Research at Lazard Frères, New York, from 1997 to 2004. Brethenoux had a threefold mission: providing institutional investors with equity research and recommendations, analyzing startup companies for potential venture capital funding or initial public offering and forecasting and monitoring trends and market dynamics in merger and acquisition activities. Prior to joining Lazard Frères, Erick was Research Director of Advanced Technologies at the Gartner Group (1991 – 1997) focusing on decision support systems, knowledge management and advanced software engineering architectures. Prior to Gartner Group, Erick held a Senior Analyst position at New Science Associates where he covered applied intelligent systems and launched the commercial high-performance supercomputer systems service. In these roles, he was responsible for research operations issues, advising clients on their information technology strategies, publishing research reports as well as establishing new units of core research within the Gartner Group. Prior to New Science Associates, Mr. Brethenoux was completing a scientific mission for the French Embassy in the United States. Erick has published extensively in the domains of artificial intelligence systems, system sciences, applied mathematics, complex systems and cybernetics. He has held various academic positions at the University of Delaware and the Polytechnic School of Africa in Gabon. Erick’s research as a Ph.D. candidate at University of Delaware was aimed at knowledge engineering, computational linguistics and connectionism modeling within a cognitive sciences multidisciplinary program.

• Alex Craddock

  Senior Vice President, North America Marketing
  Visa
  

  Alex Craddock is Senior Vice President of North America Marketing at Visa Inc. and is responsible for managing all aspects of marketing Visa’s consumer and commercial products across the US and Canada. Previously, Alex was Head of Global Commercial Marketing at Visa Inc. and prior to that, he worked for Visa International Asia Pacific as Regional Director of Product and Channel Marketing as well as Marketing Director, South and South East Asia. Alex has over 20 years experience in international marketing and business development. He previously held the role of European Group Head of Brand and Marketing for the Xerox Corporation and prior to that was Senior Vice President and Head of Marketing for Visa International CEMEA (Central & Eastern Europe, Russia, Middle East and Africa). Alex also spent several years in Board level positions at marketing agencies, with responsibility for client management and business development across Europe and globally working with clients such as NatWest Bank, British Gas, Volvo Europe, Suzuki and Sony. Alex began his career in the automotive industry with Renault and subsequently Honda. Alex has been named “Top Digital Marketer” by BtoB Magazine in 2011 and 2012. Alex has degrees in European Business and French and is married with two children and currently lives in San Francisco, California.

• Pamela Forbus

  VP, Strategic Insights
  Pepsico, Frito-Lay North America
  

  Since 2007, Pam has been leading a 30+ team of strategy, analytics and market insight professionals who have a powerful influence on the growth agenda at Frito-Lay, a multi-billion dollar company, with 6 brands over $1 Billion in sales. To drive growth on such a vast portfolio requires a profound understanding of Demand. For the past three years, her team has been perfecting “Demand Sciences” to influence portfolio management and guide marketing strategy and resource allocation decisions. After a 12-year account service and planning career in the advertising agency industry with Y&R, Chiat/Day, WB Doner and Campbell-Ewald, Pam joined the Frito-Lay insights team in 2000. Known for embracing innovative methods, Pam challenges her team to pioneer and embrace “next practices” in human decision-making and business analytics. Blending the science of analytics and the art of behavioral learning, the team uses a suite of techniques to identify Demand and Growth Drivers. For example, they leverage experimental design in a custom-built 30,000 square foot “staged” grocery store to help them identify breakthrough retail execution. Through the use of eye tracking, neuro-science and implicit association testing the team has enhanced learning on how to optimize innovation, advertising, packaging and in-store communication. Finally, through continuous measurement and advanced analytics the team keeps the organization focused on “what works” and influences future strategies and plans. Pam is an Executive Committee Member of The Marketing Science Institute, a Director of the Marketing Accountability and Standards Board and is on the Advisory Board of the University of Texas Center for Customer Insight and Marketing Solutions. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Saginaw Valley State University and a professional certification in marketing research from The University of Georgia. A runner, avid golfer and art-lover, Pam is originally from the Detroit suburbs, is a mother to three daughters and currently lives in Plano, Texas with her husband Robert and youngest daughter Anna.

• Kat Holmes

  Principal Designer
  Microsoft
  

  Kat is a Principal Designer at Microsoft, focused on design insights and strategy. She’s passionate about new ways that filmmaking and storytelling can accelerate product innovation - especially as a tool to shift conversations with strong engineering teams. Kat has worked on mobile products since April 2007, connecting experiences across user experience, hardware, brands and services. Prior to Microsoft she worked on a broad range of technologies - from oscilloscopes to biomechanical implants to household cleaning products - always focused on creative ways to bring a human-centric approach to product design. She earned a B.S. in Materials Science Engineering from U.C. Berkeley and attended the M.B.A. program at Portland State University. She lives in Seattle with her family.

• Nicholas Horbaczewski

  Chief Revenue Officer
  Tough Mudder
  

  Nicholas Horbaczewski is the Chief Revenue Officer at Tough Mudder, a hardcore, 10+ mile obstacle course series with more than 50 events on three continents in 2013. The company has reached more than one million participants to date, who have raised more than $5.8 million for Wounded Warrior Project, Tough Mudder’s charity partner in the United States. Nick is responsible for worldwide revenue generation, overseeing the company’s Marketing, Sales, Sponsorship, Event Monetization and Growth Strategy divisions. As a member of the company’s Senior Executive Committee, he consults on all decisions related to whole-business strategy and execution. Previously, Nick co-founded an angel-funded tactical equipment and services firm teaching hand-to-hand combat to elite military and law enforcement units around the world. When that was acquired, he led Corporate Development for a billion dollar defense contractor, running debt raises, M&A transactions, and an Initial Public Offering. He holds a BA in History and Literature from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. A New England native, he spends his spare time skydiving, camping, traveling and frequenting the local Crossfit box.

• Ben Jones

  Creative Director
  Google
  

  Ben is a Creative Director at Google. He works with brands and their creative and media agencies to build their brands by drawing on the best of technology, media and storytelling. His work takes him inside virtually all of the major US advertisers and the top advertising agencies, helping shape them for this digital/mobile age. He came from Hill Holliday, where he worked on Dunkin Donuts, Johnson and Johnson and Major League Baseball. Prior to that, he was at Digitas, where he ran global loyalty for IHG, led campaigns for Holiday Inn, Samsung, and SAP, among many others, including providing the voice of the Aflac Duck in social media. His past life includes being the Dean of Admissions at Bennington College, building a network of early stage venture funds, and publishing The Rope Eater, a novel, with Doubleday.

• Dimitri Maex

  President
  OgilvyOne New York
  

  Dimitri is Presaident of OgilvyOne NY. He is also a member of OgilvyOne’s Worldwide board. He joined Ogilvy in 1998 in Brussels to run the analytics capability. In 2001 Dimitri transferred to the London office to become Principal of International Consulting, responsible for developing the consultancy offering for international clients. He also became the head of Ogilvy’s Global Data & Analytics practice. In 2004 Dimitri moved to San Francisco to work at Cisco’s headquarters in San José. There he was responsible for developing Cisco’s advanced analytics department. After a spell in Silicon Valley, he moved to the New York office to run Ogilvy’s Strategy team, which included Ogilvy’s Marketing Strategy, CRM and Analytics capabilities. He took on the management of OgilvyOne in NY in 2011. Dimitri began his career as a financial controller at Kraft Foods, after which he joined the Amsterdam Group (European Alcoholic Beverages Industry Group) as a market analyst for the EU. Born and raised in Antwerp, Belgium, Dimitri studied econometrics at the University of Antwerp. He got his MBA at the Xavier Institute of Management in Bhubaneswar-India. His hobbies are soccer, tennis, squash and music. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Katherine and their daughter Ray and son Bruce.

• Jonas Tahlin

  VP of Global Marketing
  Absolut
  

  Jonas Tåhlin has been the Vice President Global Marketing at The Absolut Company since August 2011. As Vice President for Global Marketing, Jonas is based in Sweden and in charge of the Global Marketing Strategy, Communication and Innovation for ABSOLUT VODKA, MALIBU and KAHLÙA. Before that he was Vice President of Brand Development, based in London, and responsible for the global commercial performance and market strategy for ABSOLUT VODKA, MALIBU, KAHLÙA, Wyborowa, Luksusowa and Frïs. Jonas Tåhlin started his career in 1998 as Assistant Brand Manager at Procter & Gamble. During his years at Procter & Gamble Jonas was stationed in Stockholm, Rio de Janeiro, Geneva and Caracas. He advanced within the company to Senior Brand Manager and finally Marketing Director for multiple brands and geographies within Procter & Gamble. Jonas joined Vin & Sprit as Zone Director Europe in April 2006. In 2008, after the acquisition of Vin & Sprit by Pernod Ricard, Jonas became Regional Vice President of The Absolut Company in the Americas, based in New York City. In January 2010 he moved on to become Vice President, Marketing in Pernod Ricard USA before being given the task to create an entirely new department at The Absolut Company. In July 2010 he therefore led the creation of the new Brand Development organisation at The Absolut Company in London. Jonas Tåhlin holds a Master of Science in Business and Economics from Stockholm School of Economics. Jonas' great interest in cars takes him to Nürburgring in Germany where he races his personal favorites twice every year.

• Mark Weinstein

  VP Commercial Services Strategy, Loyalty Programs and Strategic Partnerships
  Hilton Worldwide
  

  Mark Weinstein currently serves as Vice President, Commercial Services Strategy, Loyalty Programs and Strategic Partnerships. In this role, Mark leads the Hilton HHonors program, the company's premier guest loyalty program that links 39 million members to Hilton Worldwide's global portfolio of ten hotel brands and more than 4,000 properties in 91 countries. He is also responsible for Hilton’s global strategic partnerships, sponsorships and alliances. Mark joined Hilton Worldwide in 2010 as Senior Director, Global Customer Marketing Project Management Center of Excellence. In this role, he was responsible for stewarding key Global Customer Marketing strategic initiatives and projects from initiation through execution. Prior to joining Hilton, Mark held consulting roles at MarketingBridge, a sales and marketing consulting firm and at PricewaterhouseCoopers in its Operational Effectiveness advisory practice. Over the course of his consulting career, he worked with a number of leading organizations including American Express Business Travel, IBM, SAP, ADP, The World Bank, Avaya, Humana, Pitney Bowes, and Lenovo. Mark graduated from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business with degrees in marketing and finance.

Additional Information

• Hotel Information

  Omni New Haven Hotel
  Yale 155 Temple Street New Haven, CT 06510
  Phone: 203-772-6664  Fax: 203-974-6777     Make a Reservation

  Important Information:

  -Parking at the conference

  -FAQs

  -Important addresses and phone numbers

  -Area map

  -Dining in New Haven

  -Attendee List

• Hotel Accommodations

  A limited block of rooms has been reserved at the Omni New Haven Hotel. You must book your room no later than Tuesday, April 8, 2014 to take advantage of the reduced rate of $209. Reservation requests received after 5:00 PM local time on April 8th will be accepted on a space and rate availability basis. Please reference the Yale Customer Insights Conference when making your reservation.

• Ticket Information

  REGISTRATION HAS CLOSED

  Standard pass - $495

  Yale/SOM Alumni/Academics $395

  Yale Student $150

  (Cost includes Thursday night reception, Friday night dinner, and two days of conference sessions)

  No refunds after April 15, 2014.

  Questions?  email Heather Fitzgerald (heather.fitzgerald@yale.edu)

• Conference Events

  

  Thursday, May 8th - Welcome Reception

  6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
  Beinecke Room and Terrace, Evans Hall
  165 Whitney Avenue
  New Haven, CT 06511

  Friday, May 9th - Day One

  Zhang Auditorium, Evans Hall
  165 Whitney Avenue

  New Haven, CT 06511

  8:30 to 9:00am – Continental Breakfast (served in Ellis-Lorimer Commons)

  9:00 to 9:15am – Welcome Remarks

  Dean Ted Snyder, William S. Beinecke Professor of Economics & Management, Yale School of Management

  Professor Ravi Dhar, George Rogers Clark Professor of Management and Marketing & Director of the Yale Center for Customer Insights

  9:15-10:00am – Opening Keynote

  Facebook and the Future of Marketing

  Carolyn Everson, Vice President, Global Marketing Solutions, Facebook

  Incredible advances in communications technology have brought us to the dawn of a new era. The entire world is coming online. The consumer’s attention is shifting to digital and marketers have to adapt.  Carolyn Everson, VP of Global Marketing Solutions at Facebook, will speak on the importance of personalized marketing in the new mobile era.

  10:00 to 11:15am – Session One: Digital/Mocial

  10:00 to 10:25am

  The Future is Omni-Commerce

  Alex Craddock, Head of North American Marketing, Visa, Inc

  The technology explosion is transforming the world of commerce with physical, digital and social dimensions of commerce converging. The future is Omni commerce: a more people powered, intelligent and seamless experience for consumers. The way people shop is emblematic of the way they consume and Visa sees it as an indicator of what’s to come in marketing. Hear how Visa is repositioning itself and adapting its marketing to keep up with its payment innovations and the changing world of commerce.

  10:25 to 10:50am

  All Social Media Sites are Not Created Equal

  Marlene Towns, Professor of Marketing at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business

  Marketers tend to lean on the two most well-known and widely used social media sites – Facebook and Twitter.  Our research shows that the two major sites appear to be used in some systematically different ways.  Given marketers’ frequent use of one, undifferentiated social media strategy that shares content across social media platforms, the current findings speak to the need for separate strategies based on the particular platform being used and, more importantly, how consumers use each platform. 

  10:50 to 11:15am

  Tweets and Sales

  Juanjuan Zhang, Associate Professor of Marketing, MIT Sloan School of Management

  Many companies today resort to tweeting as a new form of product marketing, yet it remains inconclusive whether tweets improve product sales. We conduct a field experiment on Sina Weibo, the top tweeting website in China, and find that a major media company’s tweets increase the viewing of its TV shows. We provide managerial recommendations on how to maximize the company’s return on tweeting.

  11:15 to 11:30am – Break (refreshments served in Ellis-Lorimer Commons)

  11:30 to 12:45pm – Session Two: Maximizing Brand Performance

  11:30 to 11:55am

  10x Brand: How Google Thinks About Building the Brands of the Future 

  Ben Jones, Creative Director, Google

  From self-driving cars to delivering wifi via high altitude balloons, Google believes that transformational change requires rethinking your assumptions.  Hear where they are investing in the future of human experience, and its implications for building your brand.

  11:55 to 12:20pm

  Absolute Value: the Rise of Consumer rationality and the Decline of Brands, Loyalty, and Other Quality Proxies in the Age of Nearly Perfect Information

  Itamar Simonson, Professor of Marketing, Stanford Graduate School of Business

  For the first time in history, consumers have the tools to assess the absolute value of things they buy with information from review sites, price comparison apps, and online experts to name a few.   Today’s customers are much less susceptible to marketers' influence than ever before. Branding, positioning, customer loyalty and traditional market research are becoming less relevant in an increasing number of product and service categories. This calls for a comprehensive reevaluation of the roles and methods of marketing. 

  12:20 to 12:45pm

  Insights as an Organizational Change Force

  Pam Forbus, Vice President, Strategic Insights, PepsiCo -Frito-Lay

  Insights and Analytics leaders must transition from a world of reporting descriptive and hind-sight analytics to forward-looking, predictive insights.  They must transition from decision validation and support to becoming decision enabler - even stepping into decision making roles.  Most insights and analytics functions are ill-equipped to navigate and deliver against the increased demands and leadership expectations.  Pam will offer her thoughts on what it will take to transform Insights and Analytics functions from a knowledge and support group to an organizational change function.

  12:45 to 2:00pm – Lunch (served in Ellis-Lorimer Commons)

  2:00 to 3:15pm – Session Three: Big Data

  2:00 to 2:25pm

  Sexy Little Numbers - How to Grow Your Business Using The Data You Already Have

  Dimitri Maex, President, OgilvyOne New York

  Today, everything we do creates data, and the volumes are enormous.  This gives companies an enormous opportunity to extract value from that data in order to grow their business.  Dimitri Maex, President of OgilvyOne NY and author of Sexy Little Numbers, will show practical examples of how companies have been able to use data to answer key marketing questions.  He will also talk about emerging trends in this area and will show how they will impact the way companies will work in the future.

  2:25 to 2:50pm

  Customer Analytics 3.0: Combining Big Data and Small Data for Fast Impact

  Tom Davenport, Professor of Information Technology & Management, Babson

  Leading companies are beginning to combine big and small data analytics at both the macro (“where should I invest my marketing dollars and resources to attract and retain customers”) and micro (“what customer contact led to this sale, and what specific offer should I make”) level. Davenport calls this combined approach "Customer Analytics 3.0," and companies pursuing it both create data-driven products and services, and make customer decisions at speed and scale. He will provide examples of how several companies—even those over 100 years old—are transforming themselves with Customer Analytics 3.0 approaches.

  2:50 to 3:15pm

  Online marketing: Now it's Personal

  Erick Brethenoux, Director, Business Analytics & Decision Management Strategy, IBM

  Digital forces led by social, mobile and data technology shifts are fundamentally changing how we live, work and interact. The resulting explosion of data creates a new economic asset, fueling analytics initiatives and infiltrating every interaction with customers.  Leveraging geospatial, emotional and highly contextual data pushes those interactions to the edge of uncomfortable business behavior, but also provides customers with unsurpassed benefits – creating intimate relationships and rebuilding trust and loyalty.

  3:15 to 3:30pm – Break (refreshments served in Ellis-Lorimer Commons)

  3:30 to 5:10 Session Four: Innovation

  3:30 to 3:55pm

  Zero to Sixty, and Still Accelerating – Tough Mudder’s Rapid Growth and Plan for the Future

  Nicholas Horbaczewski, Chief Revenue Officer, Tough Mudder

  From no more than idea just four years ago, Tough Mudder is now the industry leader in obstacle races with 60 events across 7 countries in 2014 and over a million participants to date. Hear how Tough Mudder has cultivated a loyal following of millions globally and what the company plans to do to sustain its momentum.  

  3:55 to 4:20pm

  Captivated by “her”: A Design + Marketing Love Story

  Kat Holmes, Principal Designer, Microsoft

  Innovation is more than just making the next big thing, it’s about changing conversations.  Design can be a powerful change agent for new ways to think, create and engage with customers.  This is the story of an unprecedented collaboration with an award winning film that sparked insights on how we can build cultural relevance through thought leadership.

  4:20 to 4:45pm

  Why Customer Insights Are at the Heart of Every Great Innovation

  Mark Weinstein, VP, Commercial Services Strategy, Loyalty Programs and Strategic Partnerships, Hilton Worldwide

  For nearly 100 years, Hilton has focused on providing personalized and relevant experiences that make guests feel welcomed and comfortable. Today, advances in customer insights, as well as the technologies needed to execute on those insights, are enabling the company to provide an even more relevant experience than ever before. Mark will discuss how Hilton HHonors, the company’s loyalty program, mines rich insights from its 40 million members to drive innovations that matter for guests. This means knowing what a guest wants before they do, creating a two-way dialogue and, most importantly, being able to deliver an experience that exceeds guests’ expectations. Mark will explain how a pragmatic approach to innovation – one that is centered on customer insights – is at the heart of Hilton Worldwide’s business, and how this approach is building long-term loyalty and brand preference.

  4:45 to 5:10pm

  The New Business Model of Absolut Vodka

  Jonas Tåhlin, VP Global Marketing, Absolut

  There is a new reality.  And Absolut is leading the way.  Discover how the quickly changing consumer landscape is driving exciting changes in the business model of this iconic brand.

  5:10 to 5:35pm - Session Five: Behavioral Economics

  "Thinking Fast and Slow" ^TM

  Shane Frederick, Professor of Marketing, Yale SOM

  In this session, Frederick will reprise two themes from Daniel Kahneman’s Nobel Prize winning research.  He will summarize the processes that govern the workings of the “intuitive mind” and discuss how intuitive impressions can dominate subsequent judgments and decisions – even in the minority of cases in which people have the disposition and motivation to reflect upon those intuitions.  Frederick will discuss two complementary concepts from this “dual system” perspective:  (1) The idea of “framing effects” (that decision makers are incredibly suggestible as to which subset of relevant information they focus upon), and that this entails a need to carefully consider which frames we adopt and which we impose and  (2) The notion of “attribute substitution” (that judgments are often based on the most salient cues rather than the most relevant cues).

  5:35 to 6:00pm – Break/Transportation to cocktails & dinner

  6:00 to 7:00pm – Cocktails at ROIA (261 College Street , New Haven, CT 06510)

  7:00 to 9:30pm – Dinner at ROIA

  Saturday, May 10, 2014 - day two

  Class of 1980 Classroom (Room 2400), Evans Hall 2nd floor

  165 Whitney Avenue

  New Haven, CT 06511

  8:30 to 9:00am Continental Breakfast (served outside of Class of 1980 Classroom)

  9:00-10:40am Session Six: Competitive Marketing Strategies

  9:00 to 9:25am

  The Role of Paid and Earned Media in Building Entertainment Brands: Reminding, Informing, and Enhancing Enjoyment

  Mitchell Lovett, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Simon Business School, University of Rochester

  Paid, earned, and owned media are now used together in most marketing campaigns. Yet we do not know how effect these media are or how they influence consumers. In this study, we shed light on both questions in the context of consumer decisions about a new entertainment brand. Using an unique data collection on 1720 panelists over seven weeks, we find that paid media is more influential than earned or owned media and that the roles the media play can differ sharply.

  9:25 to 9:50am

  Advertising Spillovers: Field-Experiment Evidence and Implications for Returns from Advertising

  Navdeep Sahni, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Stanford Graduate School of Business

  Using a large-scale experiment on a search engine, this paper shows that advertising can cause significant benefit for the advertiser's competitors. Specifically, strong competitors in the advertiser's category are likely to gain the most from the spillovers. The extent of spillovers also depends on the intensity of the advertising effort. The spillovers are largest when the intensity of advertising is low. As the intensity increases, the spillovers disappear and the advertiser gains more.

  9:50 to 10:15am

  Advertising, Consumer Awareness and Choice: Evidence from the U.S. Banking Industry

  Maria Ana Vitorino, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota

  Does advertising serve to (i) increase consumer awareness of a product, (ii) increase the likelihood that a consumer carefully considers a product, or (iii) does it shift consumer utility conditional on consideration, i.e. increases the probability that a consumer purchases the product? We utilize a detailed data set on consumers' shopping behavior and choices over retail banks to investigate advertising's effect on product awareness, consideration, and choice. Our data set has information regarding the entire purchase funnel, i.e. we observe the set of retail banks that consumers are aware of, which banks they consider, and which banks they choose to open accounts with. We formulate a structural model that accounts for each of the three stages of the shopping process: awareness, consideration, and choice. Advertising is allowed to affect each of these separate stages of a consumer's decision-making process.

  10:15 to 10:40am

  Social Effects in Buying Behavior: Evidence from In-Flight Purchases

  Pedro Gardete, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Stanford Graduate School of Business

  This paper investigates the role of social effects in consumption decisions. It uses detailed data on purchases made by airline passengers through entertainment systems located in front of them. The paper also discusses the relevance of homophily and behavior-based targeting to managers who would like to leverage social effects through promotional efforts.

  10:40-11:00am – Break

  11:00-12:15pm – Session Seven: Understanding Customer Choice

  11:00 to 11:25am

  Who's Driving This Conversation? Systematic Biases in the Content of Online Consumer Discussions

  Rebecca Hamilton, Associate Professor of Marketing, Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland

  When consumers post questions online, who influences the content of the discussion more: the consumer posting the question or those who respond to the post? Our analysis of data from real online discussion forums and four experiments shows that early responses to a post tend to drive the content of the discussion as much or more than the content of the initial query. Moreover, previously mentioned attributes are more rather than less likely to be mentioned in subsequent responses.

  11:25 to 11:50am

  The Benefits of Retail Therapy

  Scott Rick, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan

  Shopping is a common response to distress, but does shopping actually help to alleviate distress? Public opinion of “retail therapy” is generally negative, but we find that shopping can be an effective way to minimize lingering sadness. Sadness, more than any other negative emotion, creates a sense that the outcomes in one’s life are governed by ambient external forces. Making purchase decisions (even if choosing not to buy) helps to restore a sense of personal control, which in turn helps to alleviate sadness.

  11:50 to 12:15pm

  Buy Versus Rent: How Acquisition Mode Affects Consumer Decision-Making

  Anastasiya  Pocheptsova, Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland

  We demonstrate that consumers apply more stringent acceptance criteria when deciding to acquire a product for purchase than when deciding to acquire the same product for rent. As a result, consumers exhibit a higher propensity to acquire products when making a renting decision than when making a buying decision even when the price and consumption duration of renting and buying are identical. We show that decision reversibility is a critical factor that differentiates buying and renting decisions: the difference in acquisition propensity between buying and renting is attenuated, when the buying decision includes return policy. 

  12:15-12:30pm – Closing remarks

  12:30pm – Take-home lunch served

• Past Events

  • 2017 Yale Customer Insights Conference
  • 2016 Yale Customer Insights Conference
  • 2015 Yale Customer Insights Conference
  • 2014 Yale Customer Insights Conference
  • 2013 Yale Customer Insights Conference
  • 2012 Yale Customer Insights Conference
  • 2011 Yale Customer Insights Conference

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